Vitiligo is a condition that causes skin depigmentation on portions of a human body. Vitiligo depigmentation typically occurs on the extremities of the body, such as the face, mouth, eyes, nostrils, hands and feet. Typically, the depigmentation is manifest in patches that cover small or large areas of the body.
Skin depigmentation from vitiligo is caused by the death of skin cells responsible for skin pigmentation. The skin cell death creates a completely white area on an area of skin which was previously pigmented.
Because vitiligo completely depigments the skin, there is a stark contrast between the white, depigmented skin, and the surrounding pigmented skin. As a result, these symptoms are visible to onlookers when the affected area is exposed.
Current methods used to treat vitiligo include phototherapy, immune mediators, complete skin-depigmentation and/or melanocyte transplantation. These methods are intrusive because they include medications, steroids, surgery, and/or exposure to phototherapy.
Other methods are available to conceal vitiligo, and do not treat the underlying cause of the disease. For example, methods for concealing vitiligo include using creams or makeup to camouflage the depigmented skin. The camouflaging effect of these creams and makeup typically lasts anywhere from 6-12 hours. Thus, the camouflaging effect is temporary and can be easily removed.
It would be desirable, therefore, to provide a method for camouflaging vitiligo symptoms that both conceals the depigmented skin and lasts substantially longer than 6-12 hours.
In addition, application of such a solution to a depigmented area of skin must be carefully and precisely applied. Therefore, an applicator for applying a solution to a depigmented area must be easy to control, and dispense a predictable amount of solution. This is because the application of more or less solution could result in overly darkened skin or pigmenting skin that is naturally pigmented. This could result in uneven coloring of the body and stain clothing as well, rendering the applicator unsuitable for its intended purpose of creating a uniform coloring on the body.
It would be desirable, therefore, to provide a method for camouflaging vitiligo that includes using an applicator that precisely and uniformly applies a camouflaging solution to depigmented skin.